MAN ABOUT TOWN: Shiro’s Dubai move shocker

It is now official, Shiro is moving to Dubai and I have come to accept that I must be at peace with her decision. To be honest, I thought we were done having the discussion and Shiro had abandoned her grand ideas.

In fact, I noticed that she was having more talk about “spending quality time with the family.” 

That was until one evening last month when she called and told me, “babe, we need to talk.” Just like all men across the world, such words strike fear to my soul and I was scared that she would say that she was expecting again.

Shiro planned a dinner date for us to have the ‘chat’ and I arrived early for a change since I feared what she was going to tell me.  

She seemed in no hurry to tell me the news as she proceeded to talk about the children, neighbours and office gossip.

To calm my nerves, I ordered a drink and somehow felt calmer when on drink three I noticed that Shiro was having some wine. I reasoned, surely, she cannot be drinking if she were pregnant.

Finally, she got around to telling me the news and said, “babes, we can no longer postpone this, I have to move to Dubai!” The news hit me hard and I said, “I thought we discussed this, you are not moving for the sake of our family.”

She proceeded to tell me, “I thought so too, but things have changed in the office.” She told me that their company is relooking its operations and moving things “above market.”

In a nutshell, she said that it was either she moves, or she loses her job. I asked her, “so, when does this change take effect?” She said, “that is why I wanted us to talk, I am meant to move by May 1.”

Thanks to the courage induced by the booze I told her exactly what I thought. “So why are you telling me, it seems like this is a done deal and you are just here to rubber stamp things.” Shiro tried to explain, but I was having none of it because I felt belittled.

The mood changed after this, I asked for the bill and we drove home in silence. The next day, Shiro tried to talk to me, but I was having none of it.

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So, imagine my shock when later in the day, I received a call from the reception saying, “Josphat, you have some visitors.” I was taken aback, since I was not expecting visitors, so I opted to come down.

I was shocked when I went down stairs to the reception area and discovered our church pastor and my best man at the reception. I had no doubt on what they were here to discuss.

The pastor was his usual cheery self and told me, “is there some place we can talk?” He cannot talk quietly so I knew any conversation in the office would soon become part of the rumour mill. I told them, “let us go to a café in the next building and talk.” And talk we did.

It seemed that Shiro had decided to enlist their help in getting me to “see the light.” We spoke for close to an hour as they tried to make peace.

My best man asked, “have you asked how much money Shiro will make, what benefits you will have as a family?” I realised I had not done due diligence on the move.

So later that evening, I sat with Shiro and she explained all the benefits. To be honest, she is getting a good deal and if we play our cards right we might make some tidy sum. I had to cool down my anger especially when I realised that she had put a lot of thought and planning into it.

She said, “my cousin who is in college will move in to help with the kids, you can visit Dubai once a month. We will make it work.”

Yet despite all her assurances, I still feel very worried about how things will pan out.